Things That Fall
by writingwhimseys
Summary: Elsa, newly graduated, has moved to New York to pursue her passions, and Anna is just starting her second year of university in a new college town. New people, opportunities, and challenges will arise- will change be their greatest opportunity or their greatest downfall? Present-day AU, with various Frozen characters.
1. Leaves

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or any of its characters, nor am I affiliated with Disney and/or any of its productions.

*No stealing stories, thanks.*

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Chapter 1 - Leaves

The fall wind cut through Elsa, blowing her coat askew and her bangs in her face yet again. She could feel the cold creeping in, tickling her neck and wrists. Elsa frowned and walked faster, as if to escape the biting weather. Surrounded by the cold of New York, the warm sun and the feel of golden grass beneath her toes seemed like just a fleeting memory, even though she had been only been away from home in California for a few weeks.

It was impossible to ignore the color all around her, though. The leaves that crunched beneath her boots, the red and orange that transformed the sidewalk of the park into a rustling fire and the grass into a sea of sunset hues- it was a different kind of beauty she didn't quite understand. Palm trees didn't exactly cut it when it got cold, but the trees surrounding her now created a spectacle when the fall set in. For a second, Elsa watched the leaves on the trees swim in the wind as she walked past. Then the wind enveloped her, too, and she remembered why she was walking so fast.

Hurrying along, Elsa broke out of the park and started down the street, brushing past people as she blended in with the crowd. It was so noisy and loud- cars honking, people yelling, puddles splashing, the clang of hammer on metal, and the occasional slam of doors opening and closing. This was something she knew well enough- the sound of life. She listened to the cacophony around her as she walked, moving against the flow of people on the sidewalk. The faces of the people around her were downturned, sheltered from the wind, or facing a companion- all away from Elsa, who carved her path alone. It was like this everywhere she went; people kept to themselves, making an outsider like Elsa feel even more alone than she already was.

This whole move was a major risk that she had taken; being displaced so far away to pursue a passion- singing- especially since she had never performed professionally. There was always the local theater productions, the school plays, and the choir concerts to participate in back in California, but Broadway? That was a level of performance that no community stage could come close to. She had graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance, and she was proud to say her acting skills were decent, if not amazing. She had an agent- she wasn't completely unprepared, like some dream chasers. But all of this felt irrelevant living in the shadow of buildings that have housed the voices of legends, and auditioning amongst seasoned veterans. She felt like she had intruded some foreign world, and to her, it felt blatant and obvious that she didn't belong. Instead of feeling the bustling life around her, moving from California to New York had only distanced herself even more.

Finally, Elsa reached her destination; an apartment building at the end of the street. Upon reaching the front doors and buzzing herself in, she stepped into the lobby and immediately the cold retreated, the wind extinguished as the doors closed behind her. She was lucky she got this apartment; her parents weren't affluent, per se, but they had the money and connections to know where to look for housing in a city where a good apartment felt like more of a privilege.

Reaching the 8th floor, Elsa unlocked her door and entered her flat. The walls were decorated with pictures of her family and a couple musical posters, pale blue curtains swung over the windows, and, as Elsa immediately noticed, the apartment was freezing cold. After turning on the thermostat right away, Elsa changed out of her heavy coat and shuffled into the kitchen. Opening her favorite box of tea, she breathed in the scent of jasmine and smiled to herself. Tea always made Elsa feel calm and warm, despite the weather and the events of the day.

As she settled on the couch in the living room with a mug of the herbal brew, her phone lit up with a call, jingling like a broken fire alarm. Picking up her phone, she chuckled- it was as if someone had read her mind- and answered the call.

"Hello?"

_"__Elsa!"_ The voice on the line replied brightly. Elsa's smile widened and all the gloom weighting her down vanished.

"Hi, Anna."

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A/N: If you have reached this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read my fanfic! I've had this AU idea for a while, after publishing a Frozen one-shot almost a year ago and being encouraged to write a multi-chapter fic. I'm writing the chapters in advance, so hopefully, this attempt at a multi-chapter fic will be successful! If you have any recommendations/criticism/general comments, etc., reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading! Cheers!


	2. Textbooks

Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen, nor am I affiliated with Disney in any way.

*No stealing stories, thanks.*

A/N: Okay, so that took longer than expected. Let know what you guys think- reviews, comments, critiques, and the like are always appreciated! Enjoy!

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Chapter 2 - Textbooks

_"Hi, Anna."_ At the sound of her sister's voice, Anna broke into a grin.

"Hey! I haven't talked to you in forever!" At this, Elsa laughed.

_"__A week isn't quite forever."_ Anna scrunched her nose and frowned.

"Ok, well, you know what I mean. How are you? What are you up to?"

_"__It's been a quiet day- just running errands. I'm back at my apartment now. How about you?" _

"I'm just waiting for class to start. I have my first Algebra class today- seriously, though, I am not excited for this class. I hate math." Having to take math outside of high school was, for Anna, a huge injustice. She thought that, when she finished her last math exam as a senior, she was finally done. But, alas, it was not to be- apparently, to major in Education, you still have to know how to do algebra. Anna had half a mind to think the university was conspiring against her, making her suffer like this.

_"__You'll do fine, I'm sure. You're not that bad at math. It's only a beginner course, right?."_ Elsa said reassuringly.

"Yeah, well, it still sucks. Also, my butt's falling asleep right now, which is giving me an even worse feeling about this class." Anna said, shifting uncomfortably. She was sitting on the linoleum floor of the hallway outside her classroom, surrounded by other students who, like her, were waiting for the doors to open. Even though the class size wasn't all that big, the hall was beginning to get unpleasantly warm.

_"__How much longer do you have to wait?"_ Elsa asked, her noise tinny through the phone. Anna shrugged to herself.

"Don't know- hopefully not much longer." She replied.

As the sisters talked, the hallway continued to fill, with the crowd of people growing as the minutes passed. Finally, the TA opened the classroom doors and the students began flooding in.

"Oh, the doors just opened. I've got to go- talk to you tonight?" Anna asked, her voice straining as the noise of the students grew exponentially in the race to enter the classroom.

_"__Of course- have a good class."_ Elsa replied.

"Alright, bye!" Hanging up the phone quickly, Anna stuffed it in her pocket and scrambled to grab all her things. It took a while to enter the classroom, as there was still a steady flow of students. Finally, though, she managed to get inside and quickly scanned the room for a seat. Spotting one near the other side of the room, Anna jostled past people, apologizing and muttering as she went, and plopped down just in time; no sooner had she sat down than the professor went to stand at the front of the room.

"Alright, students, settle down. I'm sure you're all excited to take Algebra 103." The professor chuckled at his own comment, prompting some students to laugh along with him. Hushing the audience, the professor continued on.

"To start off, I'd like to test your knowledge of algebra so far. Please take out your textbook, turn to page 8, complete questions 1 to 4." With a wave of the professor's hand, multitudes of textbooks were pulled from bags and backpacks as students began to work. Anna also reached for her textbook, but all she felt in her bag was her binder. Panicking, she rustled through her bag more intensely, but to no avail. Realization flooded her veins, her blood running cold; she'd left her textbook at her dorm. Of course, she would do that.

Nervously, Anna turned to the person to her left, about to ask if she could share their textbook, and noticed that the person beside her was sound asleep, their head squished between the seat armrest and their glasses dangling haphazardly from their face. Turning to the right, she was relieved to see that the person beside her had his textbook out and was working on the questions. Anna tapped on his arm.

"Hi, sorry to bother you. I left my textbook somewhere, can I share yours just for today?" Anna asked, speaking quickly and sheepishly. Her seat neighbor turned to her slowly, listening with raised eyebrows. Anna observed his face as she waited for a reply. The neighbor in question was blond, with a broad jaw and attentive brown eyes. After a moment's deliberation, the neighbor sighed.

"Yeah, sure." He said, pushing his book closer towards her. Anna sunk into her chair, letting out the breath she had been holding in.

"Ok, great- wonderful! Thank you so much," she exclaimed, hurriedly starting to work on the questions.

The rest of the class was rather uneventful, with the professor beginning his first lecture explaining the basics and Anna trying desperately to absorb anything she could, taking pages of notes. Thankfully, the class was only a two hour timeslot; the class flew by relatively quickly and eventually, the professor dismissed them. As Anna got up and packed her things, she turned back to her neighbor, who was throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Thanks again for letting me borrow your textbook," she said, her voice cheerful. Her neighbor nodded at her.

"No problem," he replied, his voice neutral, before walking away. Anna watched him head out, her eyes following him. After a moment, she shrugged and picked up her things, heading out the door herself.

After following the hallway down past the rows of classrooms, then taking a right, Anna found an exit. Putting on her scarf, she left the warmth of the building and stepped out into the cold of Carraway, Virginia. Situated about an hour west of Washington, DC, the sleepy college town housed one of the best universities in the United States, whose name the town adopted- Carraway University, known to students as UCW. Although its specialty was engineering, it was a university that excelled in many areas of study and had a reputation for comprehensive and innovative learning. It was here that Anna had transferred after her first year of university, finally having chosen a field of study after much deliberation.

It was strange, really- for being such an impulsive person, Anna had taken a long time to decide. When the idea to study in education came to her near the end of her second term, however, she ran with it. Months later, she ended up at Carraway, an institution with great academics and positioned less than five hours away from her sister in New York City.

Anna walked down the main path that ran through the campus, surrounded by fellow students and absorbed in her own thoughts. She was far from home and from everything she knew to be familiar. She was essentially alone. She had to begin her life again and start fresh.

She took a deep breath and walked faster, her head held high.

She couldn't be more excited.


	3. Opportunities

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Frozen or Disney in any way.

*No stealing stories, thanks.*

A/N: Here's a new chapter! Apologies for how long it's taken to update, hope you enjoy!

PS: Just for clarification, when phone conversations happen in the story, the words of the character whose POV it is will be normally formatted, and that of the person they are talking to will be italicized.

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Chapter 3 - Opportunities

Elsa sat at her kitchen table, staring at the laptop screen before her. Words scrolled past her gaze; flyers and ads for every job under the sun, all bearing different titles but using the same words. To the enthusiastic rookie, it might have seemed like a dream come true- working in New York, in the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple! But to Elsa's eyes, it all signaled one thing: she was a failure. Perhaps that was being melodramatic; she was trying to get casted, going to every open call she could find, searching high and low every waking moment for something- anything- to get her on a stage. So far, though, she had had no luck. Accordingly, she had taken to scouring online job sites in the hopes of finding a day job just to keep herself busy, even though it just made her feel even worse.

With each passing day, it seemed like her dream of working in the theater was drifting farther and farther away. Unlike her sister with her incurable optimism, Elsa didn't except things to come easily or readily in life. Pursuing a career was no exception. Even she had to admit, though, if an opportunity was going to arise, it would be nice if it would show up just a little bit quicker.

Continuing her search, Elsa's eyes began to water, the screen blurring. She became suddenly aware of how stiff she was and realized she badly needed a break. Stretching as she got up from her chair, pain shot up her spine, making her wonder how long she'd been on the web. A glance at the clock only confirmed her suspicions. Furthermore, her stomach growled impatiently, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in hours. With a sigh, Elsa grabbed her phone and went on the hunt for her keys. If she was going to take a break, she might as well find some dinner.

It was with an air of surrender that Elsa entered the grocery store ten minutes later. Grabbing a cart, she began hunting for the essentials- milk, eggs, the basics. She was in the middle of deliberating whether or not chocolate could be considered an essential food item when her phone rang. Fishing her phone from her pocket, the name, 'Renee Packler', flashed on-screen as she answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Elsa, darling, you there?" A loud reedy voice blared out of the phone. At Renee's words, Elsa winced and held her phone at a distance. Elsa had come across Renee's name in her search for agents as she was preparing to move to New York, which Elsa had come to consider as a stroke of luck; with an eye for talent and a sixth sense when it came to promising roles, Renee had become part agent and part mentor to Elsa as she learned to navigate the cutthroat world of acting. However, there were certain risks to being a client of Renee's, the main one being that of blown eardrums.

"Hi Renee, how are you?" Elsa replied.

"Great, just great. So, listen, I got you an audition." At Renee's words, Elsa's heart began to race. Taking a deep breath, he replied as evenly as she could manage.

"What it's for?"

"New show- first run, original script. It's Off-Broadway, but it looks promising. It's a fantasy-based musical. Just barely squeaked in a slot for you- sticklers about timing, let me tell you. Call time is 1:30 next Thursday. I just sent you the info."

Listening to Renee, Elsa's excitement began to fizzle. She wasn't sure what to think. She hadn't had many auditions lately, so there was no way she was backing out of this one. And, yet, something about a brand-new fantasy-based production didn't sit well with her. It certainly wasn't was she was used to. But who was she to say no?

"Alright, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the call." Elsa said.

"Let me know how it goes." Renee said, before ending the call. As Elsa popped her phone back in her pocket, she could feel bits of doubt creeping into her mind, the audition growing bleaker as she thought about it. With a jolt, Elsa shook her head. No. She wouldn't do this. This was the first opportunity she'd had in so long, and she would not screw it up before it even happened. Determination set in and she set her chin, straightening up. It would turn out fine. Everything would be perfectly fine.

Her confidence surging, Elsa started back down the aisle to finish her shopping- of course, not before dropping a bar of chocolate in her cart.

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_"Elsa, that's amazing! Congratulations!"_

Gentle laughter.

"Thanks, Anna. Here's hoping it goes well."

_"Oh, please, you're gonna do great, as per usual. What was the show about, again?"_

"It's a "fantasy-based musical" according to Renee. Based off a fairy tale, I think."

_"Hmmm... well, it sounds it could be interesting."_

"Yeah. I'm a little nervous, if I'm being honest. It seems really different from what I'm used to."

_"Well, you never know what can happen. Maybe it'll end up being a lot of fun trying something new."_

"I hope so."

_"What's the show called again?"_

"'The Snow Queen.'"

Silence.

_"...Hmmm."_

"What?"

_"It does kind of sound like you."_

"What do you mean?"

_"Well, you can be pretty frosty at times."_

"...Seriously."


End file.
